Well it was optimistic to expect BBS square TL1012 to be any better in the winter I guess. New bird today though - a couple of Canada Geese flying past ☹️. #hertsbirds #UKbirding

My first Herts Pec Sand today at Stanborough GP. #hertsbirds #ukbirding

I’ve just seen the Wine Society delivering in a red van. But I guess they use white vins too.

Well we are in the bottom 4 on 2 August. Which even for us is a bit of a record….. #ntfc

My second Night Heron in Herts (this one at Rye Meads) and a vx bird it was too! #ukbirding #hertsbirds

First Stock Dove in garden (in 35 years). Further signs of increasing urbanisation of species - I guess Woodpigeon went the same way? #ukbirding

Patch gold today: trebles my local total…. Harpenden #hertsbirds #ukbirding

An excellent Spotted Sandpiper at the dam at Grafham Water today in glorious sunshine. My first for Huntingdonshire as the 1994 Fen Drayton bird was (just) outside. And no I won’t inflict my photos on you…. #ukbirding

A female Wheatear today brings the 2025 Harpenden walk list up to 79. In general though spring migration has been very poor so far, perhaps because there’s been no bad weather to ground birds that are passing through. #hertsbirds #ukbirding

In London….

Two male Whitethroat on my “walk from home” patch this morning at Cooters End Lane. More unexpectedly a pair of Lapwings displaying. #hertsbirds

Well I could work out what this was in Cornwall yesterday. #ukbirding

I AT LAST caught up with the local Firecrest in Harpenden. And a very fine bird it was too. #hertsbirds #ukbirding

2025 Hertfordshire Rookery Survey: please submit nest counts from active rookeries in the county, full details here: www.hnhs.org/herts-bird-c... #hertsbirds

Swallow at Kinsbourne Green pit near Harpenden looking a lot colder than those in the desert 6 days ago! #hertsbirds #ukbirding

Great trip to Morocco with @limosa.bsky.social. Many highlights (eg Black-necked Grebe in desert; Cream-Coloured Courser; Pharaoh Eagle Owl) with good views of 11 types of lark (!). Others took great photos but you’ll have to make do with mine…. #birds

Red Admiral and Speckled Wood by Thames on the Isle of Dogs today

Grey Partridge and Green Sandpiper today takes 2025 Harpenden walk list up to 68. Both are birds I see here most years but neither are that easy. Also 8 hares in one field. #hertsbirds #ukbirding

A Lesser Black-backed Gull that was rescued from a bin in Scotland has been seen some 2,900 km away in Morocco:

Whoever thought I’d see a lifer in Newport Pagnell? And whoever thought that one field with a Richard’s Pipit could be so large! Many thanks to those who found it before I did……

Saw ENUI on motorway bridge. Class graffiti - “couldn’t be bothered to look up spelling”.

Very many thanks to the finder of the Red-necked Grebe at Amwell today: only the second I have seen in Herts. Not easy to view once the fishermen had disturbed it but I saw it well in the end through gaps in the trees #hertsbirds #ukbirding

Could be helpful for #hertsbirds too as I think there is a similar issue with posts only being kept for a few days on the feed.

An unexpected sight near home today…..

Another 21k steps but at Friars Wash added Meadow Pipit and Reed Bunting to the walk-from-house list for 2025, lifting it to a respectable 65. Wigeon and Shoveler still on Kinsbourne Green pit. Nobody said Harpenden was good for birds! #hertsbirds

The new Herts Birds feed from @hertsbirds.bsky.social is now up and running. Just add the hashtag #hertsbirds to your post and it should appear on the feed. Please like, pin & repost. 🙏

Verulamium Park: a 2CY (ie first-winter) Med Gull by lake until flew, and fab views of the YB Warbler in lakeside vegetation. Well worth the 5 minute train trip to St Albans! #hertsbirds #ukbirding

“Go birding in Norfolk in January” they said. “What could go wrong”.

Yellow-browed Warbler, Black Redstart (inside Abbey), Peregrine and Kingfisher in St Albans this morning. Time for SSSI status? #ukbirding #hertsbirding

10 Golden Plover feeding near Harpenden this afternoon - regular nearby but the first I’ve recorded on my patch since spring 2019. #ukbirding #hertsbirding

Good news - new bird for garden list! And showing really well! Less good news - Ring-necked Parakeet…… #hertsbirding

To be fair it was there showing well today.

#ukbirding #hertsbirding This year 50 on patch (=walks from Harpenden home) before noon on 4/1. Record total was last year (94) so over halfway there! Mind you last year I found Turtle Dove, Black Redstart, Corn Bunting & Oystercatcher so this won’t be easy. Time somebody built a reservoir nearby.

It was not. Given the weather I rather wish that I hadn’t been either…

Water Rail on my regular walk today at East Hyde near Harpenden. It will not be there on 1 Jan! #ukbirding #hertsbirding

Thanks to John Pritchard and Rupert Evershed great (and lengthy) views of the St Albans Yellow-browed Warbler this morning. Also 2 Peregrines on cathedral on way back. #ukbirding #hertsbirding

Favourite recent bit of LinkedIn-ery. A one word comment on an appointment: “Congratulazioni”. Followed by “Show translation”.

What, ALL THE TIME?

This is impressive and requires a UK response. Challenge open to all but I’m backing @0100011s.bsky.social. #ukbirding

To Wilstone Res to see what rarities the storms had brought in. Answer - a Black Swan. From Startops End half a mile away.

Twitter account now deleted. Others seem to think it’s important to share such information - I’m not sure why…

So the road to Damascus now has a second meaning. Any candidates for other updates?

Great time in India: very much not a birding trip. But no sparrows other than in Alsisar in Rajasthan: none elsewhere in the Golden Triangle or Shimla. Ebird suggests this is partly my incompetence (and it’s a well- known thing eg fewer nest sites, more pesticides) but worrying. #birds #ornithology

Here’s what I was doing when as editor I should have been packing the Herts Bird Report….

First lifer in India….

On a non-birding note, I’m enjoying the messages of those who don’t call it Twitter/X, but “the other place” or some such. It ain’t Voldemort, folks!

As the nights draw in and the snow begins to fall that can only mean one thing…. Yes the Bird Report is on its way! Here hot off the press is our latest offering which will be mailed out to members next week. Thanks to @andy6day.bsky.social for the great photo. #hertsbirding #ukbirding

Update: The final total is 801 Hertfordshire Swift nests in 2024, all with full details of the property address. We are not sure if there has been a bigger county survey anywhere #hertsbirds #ukswifts

Anyone know the likely timeline for the merger of the various world bird lists (eg IOC, Clements, HBW/Birdlife)? It will affect/probably reduce UK lists (hence #ukbirding) though I suspect the impact in other parts of the world will be greater. And I know there are more important things than lists….